LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- No comment.
I don't want to talk about that.
Next question.
Silence.
An eye roll.
That covers the range of uneasy answers I've collected when I've asked about the unending hissing contest between the horse racing's premier trainer (Bob Baffert) and horse racing's biggest track and event (Churchill Downs and Kentucky Derby 150).
Say something in defense of Baffert and risk the ire of Churchill Downs?
"No, thank you," one Derby trainer said.
Except for D. Wayne Lukas.
"Bob belongs here," Lukas said. "He's the face of horse racing in so many ways."
No comment is not in his bloodlines. Why should it be? He's 88 and has achieved nearly everything Baffert has achieved.
There were days when Lukas had critics lined up around his barn, too, wondering why horses under his care broke down. Lukas was once steamed at me for several years about a column I wrote after his colt, Union City, suffered a fatal injury in the 1993 Preakness Stakes.
Lukas never came close to drawing the harsh penalty Baffert continues to serve. Baffert lost his record seventh Derby victory after Medina Spirit was taken down as the 2021 Derby winner, a suspension that has stretched nearly two years and 10 months, banning Baffert from the race for back-to-back-to-back years.
What will it take to get Baffert back in the Derby?
Nobody knows. He's dropped his lawsuit. He's softened his words.
Maybe the track is waiting for Baffert to walk up and down Central Avenue wearing a dunce cap, carrying a signboard that says, "I'm so, so, so sorry, Churchill Downs."
Former Washington Post horse racing columnist Andy Beyer has been as critical as any media member of trainers who earned suspensions for medication violations. But, on a podcast this year, Beyer said, "Churchill just has a vendetta against Baffert. I don't think this merited a two-year ban, and then they gratuitously tacked on another year."
Lukas and Baffert are friends as well as competitors. No other trainers have won or experienced as much as they have. They talk on the phone at least every 10 days.
"A lot of people have turned on Bob," Lukas said. "He called the other day and said, 'I've got to call my friend every once in awhile.'"
Lukas has been persistent in advising Baffert that his moment to celebrate in the Churchill Downs' winner's circle, waving the Derby trophy overhead, will come.
And Lukas believes it should come soon. He won't give you a "No comment," or blank expression if you ask Lukas how or when this saga will end.
"I would have definitely let him come back this year," Lukas said. "I would have welcomed him as a competitor. It wouldn't have bothered me one bit.
"I don't think you can be the guy who won the Triple Crown (twice) for the first time in (37) years ... and then not have him be part of the Derby.
"He's in the record books. He's part of it. I've talked to officials, and everybody agrees that the test was probably a contamination or a salve or whatever you want to call it. But it damn sure didn't affect the race or the performance of that horse.
"I don't know if it's become personal but I think they felt that (Baffert's return) was going to become the story and they didn't want that this year (with it being Derby 150."
Bingo.
Once upon a time, racing had Affirmed vs. Alydar or Easy Goer vs. Sunday Silence.
Now we have Bob Baffert vs. Churchill Downs.
In one corner, you have Baffert, who soiled his reputation as the master of Derby preparation when Medina Spirit was taken down as the 2021 Derby winner. The colt tested positive for trace amounts of the anti-inflammatory betamethasone, a therapeutic drug that is permitted in racing, but not in a 14-day window before a race.
Baffert hurt Baffert by initially insisting that Medina Spirit was not treated with betamethasone. Baffert was wrong. The colt was treated with a betamethasone salve for a rash. Howling that he was a victim of "cancel culture" was also a spectacularly stupid move.
In the other corner, you have Churchill, which rightly rebelled because of the negative publicity the suspension brought to the track's signature event. There were other positive drug tests on Baffert's record. Several horses in his barn died in training.
Baffert served his two-year suspension. There were no additional positive tests. He dropped a lawsuit against the track.
And his reward was more time tacked on to his suspension.
"He served his two," Lukas said. "I was very surprised they added that on. I think management adding this year on probably didn't want that to be the story of the Kentucky Derby."
And Baffert is not the story of the Kentucky Derby 150. The $200 million renovation of the track and its spectacular new paddock is a story. The chatter that retired quarterback Tom Brady will be a visitor in the barn area Thursday morning is a story. Fierceness vs. Sierra Leone fighting for recognition as the Derby favorite is a story.
But the absence of Bob Baffert is also a story that should not be ignored. Two of the top 10 3-year-olds are in Baffert's barn: Muth, the winner of the Arkansas Derby, and Imagination, the runner-up in the Santa Anita Derby. They are not eligible to run Saturday.
Lukas said that he expects Baffert to take at least one of those colts to Baltimore in two weeks. He will be a force in the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown.
"He needs to be in the race," Lukas said. "I'm sure he's got a lot of quality 2-year-olds and I hope he's here next year."
Kentucky Derby 150 Coverage:
- Brad Cox's Encino out of the Kentucky Derby; Epic Ride moves in
- BOZICH | Why your favorite horse can win the Kentucky Derby — and why he won't
- MORNINGS AT CHURCHILL | A photo album of Kentucky Derby training
- BOZICH | How often does best horse win Kentucky Derby? Don't ask
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